Daytona beachside condo hotel project gets key initial zoning OK

It would be one of the first new condo hotel projects on the beachside in decades, and some commissioners say they can't wait for plans for the $100 million development to become reality.

EILEEN ZAFFIRO-KEANSTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH -- Investors who want to build two massive condo hotel towers on the oceanfront are a step away from being able to charge ahead with their project. At their meeting Wednesday night, city commissioners unanimously gave initial approval to a vital rezoning for the project site, located on State Road A1A at the eastern tip of Oakridge Boulevard. Commissioners are slated to take a final vote March 20 on the rezoning from tourist accommodation to planned commercial development, and if they give their stamp of approval again that will allow construction on a 29-story condo building with 105 rooms and a 26-story hotel with 500 rooms to move forward. It would be one of the first new condo hotel projects on the beachside in decades, and some commissioners say they can't wait for plans for the $100 million development to become reality. "It's going to be an incredible look down there," said City Commissioner Pam Woods. "It is an amazing project," echoed City Commissioner Rob Gilliland, who looked out at the investors in the audience at the meeting and thanked them for their interest in Daytona Beach. Construction on the two condo hotel towers, which would be built on a 4.5-acre site, could begin in August and wrap up by the fall of 2015. The force behind the 1.22-million-square-foot complex is a group of Russian investors who have built hotels in other countries and one in Palm Coast, a Days Inn. Their plan for Daytona Beach is to create an independent four-star facility. The two buildings could create 15,100 square feet of meeting space, 14,000 square feet of retail space and 400 permanent jobs. The project's plans also show the towers with shops fronting A1A at street level, indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, fitness rooms, a ballroom, a roof garden, meeting rooms, penthouses and a state-of-the-art automated parking structure with machinery that would move cars into spaces. The design would maintain beach access to the public in the same area where people can walk and bike to the oceanfront now. "I think it's exciting what's about to happen," said City Commissioner Paula Reed. Mayor Derrick Henry thanked the investors for taking a chance on the World's Most Famous Beach, and asked them to spread the word to other developers who might be interested in Daytona Beach. "We're grateful you've chosen us," Henry said. "There's lots of competition." In other action, an item on the agenda regarding a proposal to build a new slingshot ride on the Daytona Beach Pier was not discussed or voted on at Wednesday's meeting. City Manager Jim Chisholm said at the beginning of the meeting that the item was being pulled off the agenda. In an interview after the meeting Chisholm explained that there are still questions about signage and insurance that need to be addressed. Commissioners had been slated to vote on a 10-year contract with a business that wants to build a 240-foot-tall slingshot ride on the city-owned pier. The ride would be built in the area of the pier where the Space Needle was located for decades until it was removed last year, and the idea is to build a roughly 5,000-square-foot addition on the pier's southern edge in that spot. The proposed lease agreement calls for the company, Daytona Slingshot, to cover the full $1.6 million cost of building the ride and the pier addition, and pay annual rent that would start at $90,000 and increase in future years.